EIR/202400440910 · FOI/EIR · not held
Number of registered farms in specific locations around Scotland: EIR release
Information requested
How many registered farms there are in, broken down by year 2024, 2023 and 2022?
1 – Aberdeenshire
2 – Angus
3 – Moray
4 – Highlands
For 2024, please could you tell me how many of these are estimated to cost £1 million or more?
Response
As the information you have requested is ‘environmental information’ for the Purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs), we are required to deal with your request under those Regulations. We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA.
This exemption is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes. This is essentially a technical point and has no material effect on the outcome of your request.
Question 1
The following table shows the number of agricultural holdings in Aberdeenshire, Angus, Moray and Highlands between 2022 and 2024 based on data from the June Agricultural Census. Please note that the table is showing agricultural holdings, not farm businesses, and farm businesses may have multiple holdings.
Number of agricultural holdings by local authority:
Local authority 2022 2023 2024 Aberdeenshire 6,940 6,437 6,505 Angus 1,233 1,183 1,190 Moray 1,335 1,179 1,198 Highlands 9,948 8,370 8,567
Note: The reduction in the number of agricultural holdings between 2022 and 2023 is a result of methodological changes to the June Agricultural Census.
Question 2
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not hold the specific information you are seeking in relation to the number of agricultural holdings referred to in our response for Question 1 above that would cost and/or be valued at £1 million or more. Therefore, with respect to your request this is a formal notice under Regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs confirming that the Scottish Government does not hold this information.
This exception is subject to the ‘public interest test’. It is important to note that although we do not hold the information and have applied Regulation 10(4)(a) – information not held, it is a requirement that we have to apply the public interest test.
Wider guidance on the Environmental Information regime can be found in the Key Concepts section under ‘Information Not Held’ and ‘The Public Interest Test’ in the attached Scottish Information Commissioner Briefings and Guidance document.Further guidance on the public interest test can also be found on page 8 of the Scottish Information Commissioner guidance.
About FOI
The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.
Contact Please quote the FOI reference Central Correspondence Unit Email: contactus@gov.scot Phone: 0300 244 4000 The Scottish Government St Andrew's House Regent Road Edinburgh EH1 3DG
Detected exemption language
We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA. This exemption is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes. Therefore, with respect to your request this is a formal notice under Regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs confirming that the Scottish Government does not hold this information.
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